Hybrids on a Roll | Green Energy News

October 16, 2005 – Vol.10 No.30

HYBRIDS ON A ROLL.

Diminishing global supplies of oil, terrorism, the looming threat of a regional war in the Middle East, growing world economies and annual supply disruptions from hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico could keep gasoline prices high for years to come.

Conversely only slowing economies (a global recession), a significant new oil discovery or a major shift to far more fuel efficient vehicles will force prices down.

High gas prices will likely keep hybrid vehicle development and commercialization moving forward. When fuel-efficient hybrids are sold in the millions each year it seems possible that a reduction in fuel consumption could drive gasoline prices down or at least keep them from climbing into the stratosphere. (The wide adoption of plug-in hybrids with their 100 mile per gallon or so fuel economy could do this.)

Right now hybrid vehicles are still a niche market, but interest in hybrids is filtering in from various angles.

--- Johnson Controls, the world’s largest manufacturer of conventional lead-acid automotive batteries and a mass producer of automobile interiors, has teamed up with advanced battery maker Saft to develop, manufacture and sell nickel metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries to the global hybrid vehicle market.

The joint venture agreement will be finalized early in 2006. Joint sales and marketing will begin immediately thereafter. Johnson Controls will utilize its recently opened Lithium Ion Development Laboratory in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Lithium-based batteries could supplant nickel metal hydride batteries now used in hybrid vehicles.

Some vehicle analysts have said that a shortage of nickel metal hydride batteries have limited the production of hybrids like Toyota’s Prius. More players in the battery industry would alleviate that problem and drive battery costs (thus hybrid vehicle costs) down.

Visit Johnson Controls at http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/ , Saft at http://www.saftbatteries.com/ .

--- Enova Systems, a developer and manufacturer of a range of hybrid drive systems and controls, has been selling hybrid components globally.

The Torrance, California-based company has sold a total of 24, 90-kilowatt HybridPower Parallel drive systems to First Auto Works of China for use in buses being built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Eneco of the U.K. has purchased a total of 25 120-kilowatt HybridPower Parallel drive systems from Enova for buses in service, or soon to be, in London.

WrightBus, also of the U.K. has announced it will use Enova’s 120-kilowatt Series Hybrid drive systems powered by Enova’s 60-kilowatt genset in its upcoming ElectroCity hybrid buses being developed for commercial service in London.

MTrans Holdings of Malaysia will use Enova’s hybrid drive systems in the first hybrid buses to be developed in the country.

And, Enova’s hybrid drive systems are not limited to buses.

MTrans will also use Enova’s hybrid drive system in monorail trains now being developed. Tomoe of Korea will also use Enova’s drive systems in a new service train for the Seoul Metro Rapid Transit.

Visit Enova at http://www.enovasystems.com/ , Eneco at http://www.eneco.co.uk/ , WrightBus at http://www.wrightbus.com/

--- As with Enova’s hybrid drive systems being used in rail vehicles, RailPower Technologies has announced it has recently taken orders for 27 hybrid diesel/battery electric locomotives.

Used in railyard switching operations the locomotives to be put in service in Texas by Union Pacific, Kansas City Southern, Fort Worth and Western railroads as well as the Lubrizol Corporation were purchased with partial funding from the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP). TERP aims to reduce air pollution in railyard operations by using cleaner locomotives.

Visit RailPower at http://www.railpower.com/ .

--- Electro Energy, of Danbury, Connecticut, has announced it is developing a specialized, prototype nickel-metal-hydride battery to be used in a test vehicle in CalCar’s Prius+ proof-of-concept plug-in hybrid electric vehicle demonstration program.

CalCars, officially known as the California Cars Initiatives, aims to prove that hybrid vehicles can be developed that can be driven for limited distances (20-30 miles) on electric power alone. An additional, or larger, battery pack would be installed and the cars could be recharged via the grid or a distributed power source such as a solar array.

CalCars has already proved that at least 90 miles per gallon of gasoline can be obtained in a Toyota Prius with the Prius+ conversion.

Visit Electro Energy at http://www.electroenergyinc.com/ , CalCars at http://www.calcars.org/